GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders have appointed three former prime ministers as members of an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) as the regional integration grouping seeks to extend its Good Offices to the government of Haiti and other Haitian stakeholders.
The Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat issued a statement named the EPG members as former Bahamas prime minister Perry Christie, former Jamaica prime minister Bruce Golding, and their St. Lucian counterpart, Dr. Kenny D. Anthony.
“The Group will initiate and oversee the Community’s provision of Good Offices support in designated priority areas, including security, governance, the electoral process, and long-term development planning and advocacy. They will also liaise with key international partners and agencies,” the Secretariat said.
It said that a technical team of experts from CARICOM member states, the CARICOM Secretariat, and regional specialized agencies will support the Group.
At their summit in the Bahamas in February, the regional leaders reiterated that CARICOM must play a leadership role in addressing the deteriorating situation in Haiti, “towards which there are moral and political obligations.”
At the end of their summit, the leaders “affirmed that CARICOM needs decisive action at the earliest opportunity given the mounting insecurity and its widespread impact on all facets of Haitian life.”
Their statement followed talks with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
They acknowledged adopting the December 21, 2022, political agreement, the National Consensus for an Inclusive Transition and Transparent Elections, launched by the interim Haitian Prime Minister, Dr. Ariel Henry, “but were of the view that it needed to be more inclusive.”
The leaders agreed “to build international partnerships to support efforts to return Haiti to peace and stability as a necessary precursor for a free, fair, and credible election.”
Earlier this month, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, described Haiti as a “tragic situation” and appealed to the international Community to do more to help the French-speaking CARICOM country overcome its present political and socio-economic conditions.
Guterres said that Haiti faces dramatic humanitarian needs, a paralyzed political system, and levels of violence by gangs “that are appalling.
The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said in April alone, more than 600 people were killed in violence in the country’s capital. This follows the killing of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023.
BINUH said that overall, the number of victims of killings, injuries, and kidnappings increased by 28 percent in the first quarter of the year, with 1,634 cases reported.
Guterres told reporters there is also a political problem in Haiti and that there is a need to bring the different stakeholders together “to find a political way for a legitimate government to be recognized…and we need to address the violence of the gangs”.
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